BT lands student broadband deal

From September, the 15,000 students who live in Unite accommodation will be about to get a 512Kbps connection for £5 per month. This works out slightly cheaper than getting a standard BT broadband package.

A spokesperson for Unite, which supplies student accommodation to universities, explained that another factor is convenience, as students will be spared the bother of having to choose a supplier and organise the installation of the connection themselves.

Broadband has been booming in Britain for around two years now, with take-up running at approximately 40,000 new connections per week. Many of today's students will have grown used to having a high-speed connection at home or at school. Unite is confident that there will be strong demand for its service, which will be called uBroadband.

"Our research shows that some 70 percent of our customers want a value for money high-speed broadband service available in their rooms, and this is just what we've set out to do," said Nicholas Porter, Unite chief executive.